


The Thorn In My Side

by pointnclickbait



Series: Blooming Ink [2]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Flower Shop & Tattoo Parlor, Fluff, Language of Flowers, M/M, coldflash - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-04
Updated: 2019-11-04
Packaged: 2021-01-22 13:34:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21302909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pointnclickbait/pseuds/pointnclickbait
Summary: Tattoo Artist!Len and Florist!Barry. Len makes a shitty first impression and Barry retaliates with sassy flowers.
Relationships: Barry Allen/Leonard Snart
Series: Blooming Ink [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1535744
Comments: 12
Kudos: 197





	The Thorn In My Side

**Author's Note:**

> I'm a sucker for this trope! I loved writing the Mick/Ray installment so much I had to do another. It's not strictly necessary to have read Something More Than Words and it should be perfectly fine to read this as a standalone. Hope you like!

The buzzing of the needle had always been a soothing sound to Len. He loved creating things, pieces of art, for the people that walked into the shop. After putting the finishing touches on his current work he wiped it with a tissue and leaned back to take a look at it. Pleased with the job he nodded to the customer and went through the basic after care routine. Once the customer had paid Len leaned against the counter and continued to draw as he had been doing before the last appointment. Suddenly the door opened and a grinning Ray walked in. Len arched an eyebrow.

“Is there even any point in asking where you’ve been?”

The smile never left Ray’s face as he brandished a flower. It was white and even Len could tell it was a lily.

“And what does this one mean?”

Ray flushed suspiciously.

“Oh you know, the usual.”

With that Ray continued past the counter and headed into the back to put the flower in the vase he kept all of his flowers in. Len shook his head. He and Lisa had given Mick a right teasing when he had started giving Ray flowers. Lisa thought it was sweet, Len just thought it was hilarious. He looked at the clock and saw that it was his lunch hour and he could think of no better way to spend it than by tormenting his friend. He called out to Ray that he was leaving and headed out of the tattoo parlor towards the flower shop.  
There was no one at the counter when he strolled in and no customers around the shop. He called out and a voice he didn’t recognize responded.

“I’ll be with you in a second!”

Len took in the empty shop as he waited. Suddenly a man popped up from behind the counter with a smile.

“Can I help you?”

Len was momentarily lost for words. The man in front of him was beautiful and he internally cursed Mick out for not warning him about this. The man was now looking at him curiously and Len realized he had yet to talk.

“I’m looking for Mick.”

“Oh he’s on his lunch break. I can tell him you stopped by.”

Len arched an eyebrow.

“Are you trying to get rid of me? Is it now the policy to try to hunt customers out of the shop?”

The young man’s eyes widened.

“No that’s not what I meant! I wasn’t trying to get rid of you!”

While he rambled Len gave him a once over. He looked young.

“Shouldn’t you be in school or something?”

Suddenly the man was glaring at him.

“I’m not that young, I’m not a kid.”

Len rolled his eyes at the flush of anger on the man’s face.

“Whatever you say Scarlet.”

He looked confused for a second before he realized what Len meant. He flushed even harder and the glare intensified.

“My name is Barry, not Scarlet.”

“And I care about that. Deeply.”

Barry looked like he was imagining Len’s slow and painful death. All of a sudden he smiled and headed to a part of the shop. He returned to the counter and handed Len a purple flower.

“Here, just to show there’s no hard feelings.”

The older man took the flower, looking from it to Barry in suspicion.

“Sure, thanks.”

He couldn’t help noticing there was mischief in Barry’s eyes and he wondered at it.

“Well I’m going to go, tell Mick I dropped by.”

He was leaving when Barry called after him.

“Wait! What’s your name?”

“Len.”

With that he was gone. When he entered the shop again he decided to see if his suspicions would be confirmed. He approached Ray who appeared to be working in his sketchbook.

“You know what flowers mean right?”

“Well I wouldn’t say I have an extensive knowledge of them, more like a basic one, though Mick has been teaching mean different meanings when I call over to the shop which when you think about it-”

“Ray, I want your help not a monologue.”

“Oh right, sure. What do you need?”

Len showed him the flower.

“Any idea what this is?”

“Sure! It’s aconite, it means hatred.”

Ray tilted his head with a frown.

“Did Mick give that to you?”

Len snorted.

“When has Mick ever given me flowers?”

“In that case who did you piss off?”

Len lied.

“No one. I just decided to pick it up, thought I might sketch it.”

“Oh, cool.”

Len left Ray to it and headed to his own station. He dropped the flower onto the table and resisted the urge to bang his head off it. Why was he like this? Whenever he met someone that he was attracted to he acted like an asshole. It was an instinctive reaction. Lisa had a theory on why he did it but he just ignored her. He sighed and got back to work.

————————————————————————

The next day Len was setting up when the door to the shop banged open and a scowling Mick marched in and towards Len. He stopped in front of him and pointed a finger at him.

“No.”

“No what?”

“Barry is off limits.”

Len continued setting up.

“I have no idea what you mean.”

“Bullshit. The kid tells me you called by the shop and he has a glare on his face that’d cut glass. That means you acted like an asshole.”

“I always act like an asshole.”

“But especially for guys you get hot for. The kid’s a good worker and knows his stuff. I’m not letting you fuck that up. So hands off.”

Len lifted his hands placating.

“Fine, he’s off limits, got it.”

Mick held his glare for another second before relaxing.

“Good.”

“Mick! What are you doing here?”

Len could see the slight change in his friend’s face as he turned to greet his boyfriend. Mick was as good at hiding his emotions as he was but Len knew him long enough to see the difference. He felt a pang as for a moment he wished for something like that. Then he did what he usually did and buried it.

—————————————————————————

Len justified his going back to the flower shop by deciding that he needed to see if Mick wanted to get lunch. And if he knew that Mick was on his lunch break already because Ray had disappeared then that was just for him to know. He entered the shop and a voice called out from the back room.

“Be with you in a minute!”

Sure enough Barry made an appearance. Len smirked at the glare that Barry hurriedly covered up.

“Do you actually do any work or do you spend your time ditching Scarlet?”

He saw Barry swallow a retort.

“Was there something you needed? Mick isn’t here.”

“Damn. I was going to see if he wanted to get lunch.”

“Well he’s not here so…”

The ‘get out’ was left unspoken. Len decided to have some fun.

“Actually, I really liked that flower you gave me last time. Do you have any other suggestions?”

Barry perked up and went to the corner of the shop. He came back with an orange flower and handed it to Len.

“It’s very beautiful isn’t it?”

Len knew by the unholy glee that Barry was failing to mask that it was no ordinary flower.

“It is. What’s it called?”

“Butterfly weed.”

“Why is Mick stocking a weed?”

Barry shrugged.

“Who knows.”

“Well I’ll just take this and go so. Thanks.”

Barry grinned.

“No problem.”

As soon as he got back to the shop Len Googled the flower. When the meaning came up he laughed. It meant ‘leave me’. Barry was good, he’d give him that.

———————————————————————————

The next time Len visited the flower shop he was genuinely looking for Mick. However he found Barry instead. Not that he was complaining. He was treated to the usual welcome of a scowl and smirked, he really did love winding the kid up. He was wondering what the customers thought of their conversations. He greeted the younger man and they somehow devolved into an argument of:

“Did.”

“Didn’t.”

“Did.”

“Didn’t.”

“You’re infuriating.”

“All part of my charm.”

Barry rolled his eyes and Len grinned. He could see Barry biting back a grin of his own. Suddenly he perked up.

“Wait one second!”

He ran into the back room and Len listened in bafflement as he heard the back door crash open and then be slammed shut again a second laster. Barry appeared behind the counter again brandishing a flower. Len took it with a raised brow.

“Did you just pick this from the garden?”

“Maybe.”

Barry grinned an unfairly adorable grin at him and Len shook his head. He was looking forward to finding out what a buttercup meant. He snorted later on when ‘childishness’ popped up on his screen.

—————————————————————

The glares were beginning to fade from Barry’s face when Len strolled into the shop, instead he just looked amused. That didn’t stop him from giving flowers though. Len honestly believed that Barry had no clue that he knew what the flowers meant which made the situation funnier to him. He made his usual trek to the shop knowing that Mick had the day off. He hadn’t gotten chewed out for hanging around the shop so Mick must be fine about it. The bell jingled as he opened the door and Barry looked up from the counter. He grinned but quickly covered it up with a disinterested look.

“Mick’s not here it’s his day off.”

“Damn I was hoping to catch him.”

Len strolled up to the counter and leaned against it. Barry looked amused.

“Can I help you?”

Len could think of a number of ways that Barry could help him but chose not to voice them. Instead he drawled a less suggestive reply.

“Just thought I’d take the chance to escape Sara’s wrath.”

Barry huffed a laugh having heard stories about her from Ray.

“What did you do now?”

“I’m hurt Scarlet, why do you think I did something?”

“Because I know you unfortunately.”

“You wound me.”

Barry snorted and Len gave him a slow smile. Barry flushed and started messing with the papers on the counter. Len considered that a positive reaction.

“I may have papered her office with pictures of naked women.”

“And why was that a problem?”

“It was her sister.”

Barry shouted a laugh and then covered his mouth with a look of glee on his face. When his shoulders stopped shaking he spoke breathlessly.

“How did you manage that?”

“I know a guy at the studios she posed for the magazine at.”

“How are you still alive?”

“I have a strategy in place.”

“And that is?”

“I hide out here until I absolutely have to go back.”

Barry grinned and shook his head. He met Len’s eyes with a smile and Len felt his heart skip. He cursed himself for the reaction and told himself to get a grip. He just couldn’t help it when Barry looked at him like that, like maybe there was a chance he could find his way into his affections. Barry was fiddling with the papers again and Len asked him what they were for. The younger man heaved a sigh and went into a lengthy rant about delivery costs. That then turned into conversations on other topics and Len discovered they had more in common than he would have expected.  
Suddenly Len’s phone started playing the Jaws theme. Barry looked amused but confused until Len answered the phone.

“Hello Sara.”

Barry put his hand over his mouth again and his eyes sparkled with mirth. Len smirked back at him as his boss chewed him out on the phone. It ended up with him promising to head straight back to the shop. He hung up and turned his attention back to a still amused Barry.

“Looks like I need to go if I don’t want to be skinned alive.”

If he was allowing himself to be hopeful he would say that Barry looked disappointed. Then he perked up.

“Hang on a second!”

He sped over to a corner of the shop rooting around for a bit before finding what he was looking for. He presented the flower to Len with a flourish.

“For you.”

Len arched an eyebrow and bit back a smirk as he took the flower. He bid Barry goodbye and made his way back to work. He managed to avoid Sara as a client walked in for an appointment with him. It was a long appointment so it was some time before he could look up the meaning of his gift. It meant ‘separation’. He couldn’t figure out how Barry meant it. Was the separation good? Bad? What did it mean? Len put it out of his mind when he saw an irate Sara heading towards him.

————————————————————————

Len had been popping over to the florists for a few weeks and he felt like Barry might be warming to him. He didn’t glare at him all the time anymore and Len had been making him laugh feeling his heart warm when Barry’s face lit up. He was in the shop when the door burst open, banging off the wall and earning a wince from Barry. Suddenly Len found the arms of a feminine figure wrapped around him.

“Lenny! I didn’t expect to see you here.”

Len hugged his sister back.

“Then what are you doing here?”

“I came to see Mick.”

“So you’d come to see him before seeing me? I thought we had a closer connection than that.”

Lisa grinned at the teasing.

“Oh please, I may be visiting Mick but we both know I’m spending the night with you.”

Len smiled fondly at her. A throat was cleared and they both turned to regard Barry.

“I’m going to need you to move, there’s a customer waiting to be served.”

Len realized that was true as Lisa grabbed his arm and dragged him towards the door.

“Sorry! We’ll just go, c’mon Lenny.”

Len tried to say goodbye but Barry was already with the customer and then Lisa had him out the door. It wasn’t until much later that he realized he hadn’t gotten a flower.

—————————————————————

It was a few more days before Len could get back to the flower shop and in the meantime Lisa had left. It had been nice to spend some time with her, he never knew when she would appear. He strolled into the shop expecting the usual smile only to be met with a businesslike demeanor.

“Mick’s not here.”

“And I can’t be here to see you?”

Barry gave him an unimpressed look and went back to concentrating on the delivery book in front of him. Len was thrown. He had thought that they had moved on from this. He attempted to make conversation but was thwarted at every turn. Finally admitting defeat he bid Barry goodbye. He was at the door when Barry tapped him on the shoulder.

“This is for you.”

He dropped the purple flower into Len’s hand and went back to the counter. Len was about to say something when a customer squeezed in past him. He decided to just leave. He had to ask Ray what the flower was and then looked up the meaning of petunias. He leaned back in his chair in confusion when the result came up. ‘Resentment and anger’. What had he done to piss Barry off so much?

———————————————————————

Len made the decision to avoid the flower shop for a couple of days, hoping that Barry’s ire would have subsided by then and that maybe he wouldn’t fuck things up even more somehow. It was with some trepidation that he eventually entered the shop again. The worry eased a little when Barry greeted him with a sheepish smile.

“Hi.”

“Hi.”

It seemed like neither of them knew how to break the ice. Len usually considered himself adept at making conversation in any situation but he was currently lost. Barry was the one that spoke first.

“Was that your sister that was in a few days ago?”

Len smiled when he thought of Lisa.

“Yes it was. I don’t get to see her that often so I make the most of it when I do. How did you know she was my sister?”

Now Barry looked embarrassed and flushed that familiar red.

“I heard Mick and Ray talking about her.”

He wouldn’t meet Len’s eyes and something occurred to the older man causing a grin to sneak onto his face.

“Did you think she was my girlfriend Scarlet?”

Barry flushed a deeper red and scowled at him.

“It was a logical conclusion!”

Just then a customer waved to get his attention and Barry hurried over to them. Len stayed by the counter turning Barry’s reaction over in his head. His heart picked up a pace as he considered what that could mean, especially considering the meaning of the last flower. His phone buzzed and he checked it with a frown. He had a walk in client and needed to head back to the shop. He caught Barry’s attention and gestured that he was leaving. He was at the door when Barry hurried over to him. He slipped a flower in his hand and was hurrying away again when Len asked what it was. Barry blushed.

“A blue iris.”

As soon as the client was dealt with Len searched for the flower’s meaning. ‘Hope’. Len stared at the screen as he felt hope grow in his own chest. Did that mean…? Did Barry…? He spent the rest of the day letting the thoughts flow in the back of his mind. By the time they closed up for the day he knew what he wanted to do.

————————————————————————

Ray had been amused and confused by the request but had done it anyway. That was why Len was walking into the flower shop with an appearance of confidence but with a racing heart that he was ignoring. The shop was free of customers and when Barry looked up and saw him his face brightened with a smile. Len strode up to the counter and took his usual position leaning against it. Barry crossed his arms and rested them on the counter.

“What can I help you with today?”

“Actually, I thought I’d repay the favor.”

Barry looked confused.

“What favor?”

Len took out the flower from where he had been hiding it and held it out to Barry who took it gently. Len was counting on Barry knowing the meaning. Barry flushed as he turned the flower delicately in his hands.

“Why are you giving me this?”

“I thought I’d answer the iris.”

“You know what that meant?”

“I know what they all meant Scarlet.”

Barry closed his eyes in embarrassment.

“Why would you keep them if you knew I was insulting you?”

“Because you gave them to me.”

Barry seemed startled then hopeful as he looked at the flower again.

“Do you know what a red carnation means?”

“Do you?”

“’Love and admiration’.”

Barry bit his lip.

“Do you mean that?”

“I wouldn’t have given you the flower if I didn’t.”

Barry paused for a moment, then walked around the counter until he was flush against Len.

“Prove it.”

Len smirked at the challenge and leaned forward capturing the other man’s lips with his. Barry slid his hands behind Len’s neck as Len pressed him back against the counter. They only pulled apart when a voice interrupted them.

“Oh no fucking way is this happening.”

Barry guiltily looked at a pissed off Mick over Len’s shoulder. Len just gave him an unimpressed look.

“You get back to work and you get the fuck out of my shop.”

Len rolled his eyes and leaned forward to give a grinning Barry a quick kiss.

“How about I meet you after work and we grab something to eat?”

“I could go for food.”

Len nodded.

“Good.”

“It’s a date.”

Len rolled his eyes again as Barry laughed.

“Am I fucking invisible? Get your ass out Snart!”

Len breezed past an annoyed Mick with a smirk.

“See you tonight Len.”

Len smiled over his shoulder.

“See you tonight Scarlet.”


End file.
